Stanley Cup Playoffs 2012: Chris Kreider Will Be NY Rangers' Next Big Star

New York Rangers rookie Chris Kreider has made quite a name for himself after joining the team during their first round series against the Ottawa Senators, and there's no reason to think that he won't continue to produce for the Blueshirts in the future.

He's playing like a veteran and has scored five goals this postseason, including one in each of the Eastern Conference Finals games against the New Jersey Devils. It's not just the fact that he's scoring goals, though—it's how he's scoring them. He's always in the right place at the right time, and it's not by accident, either. This kid knows where to go to score goals and he's been doing it all his life.

Kreider has never even played in a regular season game, and it's easy to forget that this kid won't just go away after the playoffs. But he's probably played his way into coming back for the full 82 games next season (at least Rangers fans hope so). He's scored five goals this postseason, second on the team to only Brad Richards, who has netted six. Coach John Tortorella is thanking his lucky stars, I'm sure, now that we've seen Marian Gaborik disappear into the shadows this postseason.

Devils rookie Adam Henrique has received plenty of attention during these playoffs, but my hat goes off to Kreider for stepping up on the biggest stage in hockey when it mattered most. Krieder scored the third goal in Game 6 of the Ottawa series, the one that proved to be the game-winner. He notched over 26 minutes of ice time in the Rangers' 3OT win in Game 3 of the Washington Capitals series.

It's not easy for a young kid to come into the biggest market in sports, where there's constantly a microscope on everything you do on and off the ice, and continue to prove how great of a player he is.

And don't forget that this kid is barely legal: he just turned 21 on April 30. Most kids are just getting home from college for summer vacation, but Kreider has something a little more rare on his resume. He led his Boston College team to a championship at the Frozen Four, now he's trying to do the same thing with the Rangers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It's not like he's taking shots at a ridiculous volume, either. In two of the team's last three games, he's taken one shot and seen the puck into the back of the net both times. He scored on a deflection in Game 2, making it known yet again that he knows exactly where to go to score. He showed us he can pass when he made a beautiful pass to Dan Girardi, who promptly put the biscuit in the basket, during Game 1 against New Jersey.

You could see Kreider had ice in his veins from the moment he stepped on the ice in Game 3 of the Ottawa series. He has the NHL to thank for his arrival, as he was only brought up to replace Carl Hagelin who had been suspended due to a high elbow on Daniel Alfredsson. He knows that he's a part of something magical that's going on in Madison Square Garden. Even if he wasn't aware at the beginning, he knows now, thanks to a showering of "Kreider" chants from the MSG crowd.